Ghosts of the Past
by M. P Smith
Summary: When a new number comes up, it brings back a ghost from John Reese's past. He's forced to confide in Finch and Carter for their help to find someone who should be dead. Caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, can they all make it out alive?


**I do not own Person of Interest.**

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**Prologue**

The 12th of March 2012.

That was the day everything changed. After that day, nothing would ever be the same, for on the 12th of March, John Reese and Harold Finch's lives were forever altered.

The unlikely duo had just finished one of their most trying cases yet. They had saved the life of 6 month old Leila Smith. Neither of the two had believed that someone would want to harm a child when her number had come up but they had soon discovered that her life had indeed been in danger. And once again, they had saved a life while expecting nothing in return.

But the case had taken its toll on Reese. Finch could see that something about the case had upset him. Reese had mentioned as they had watched Leila being introduced to her grandparents that he wished for a normal life, a child. Is that why he had barely said two words since they had returned to the library? They both knew a normal life was never going to happen for either of them. It would be dangerous for them to form attachments to someone.

Reese knew that. Yet Finch could see the yearning in his eyes as he watched the man take down the photo of Leila Smith from their board.

He knew the man needed time to himself so he sent him home and prayed that for once the machine would not give him another number. He thought that his prayers were wasted but the next day passed and no new number emerged. He was grateful. Reese was a strong man and hard worker but everyone needed a day off now and then. But a day was all he got.

The next day came and sure enough, Finch felt the familiar vibration of his phone in his pocket. It was the machine signalling that it had a new number for him. He made his way to the closest pay phone and quickly received the code words that would tell him what number was up. After that he phoned Mr. Reese who said he would meet him immediately in the library.

Arriving at the library first, Finch set about looking for the books that corresponded with the words the machine had given him. Despite knowing of its existence, Reese still had no idea how Finch got the social security number from the machine and for the time being, Finch wanted it kept that way.

After finding the right books and their corresponding numbers, Finch fired up his computers and set about trying to find out as much as he could about who the new number belonged to. He liked to have as much information as possible ready for when Mr. Reese arrived.

His fingers dashed across the keyboard with expert skill as his eyes flew between his many computer screens. The new number belonged to a girl called Anna Millers.

After just one minute, Finch came across something that was going to make their case extremely difficult. A death certificate. The certificate was almost two years old and was official. But if the machine had given him her number, it meant that Morgan Evans was alive and most probably in danger. The girl had been 17 at the time of her 'death' and like most teenage girls, he found her facebook page which had been inactive since her supposed death.

He printed off a picture of the girl, who would now be almost 19, and stared at it. She was extremely beautiful. At the time of the picture, she had long blonde hair, sea blue eyes and a smile that shone so bright it made even Finch smile momentarily. She was stunning and something about the girl seemed oddly familiar. But he was sure that he had never seen her before so he brushed off the feeling.

The sound of footsteps filled the library followed by the appearance of John Reese.

"You got a new number?" he asked as he walked into the room.

"Yes," Finch answered as he stood from his chair and limped over to the board. "But this one will be a bit difficult I'm afraid."

"How so?" Reese questioned.

"The new number belongs to a girl who has been dead for almost 2 years." Finch took a small piece of tape and used it to tape the photo of the girl to the middle of the board.

Reese wasn't too concerned about Finch's news as he had already had a case where the girl had been presumed dead and he had still managed to save her. He was confident he could do it again. He took a few steps forward and looked to the picture Finch had just stuck up on the board.

He froze. His heart skipped a beat as he looked at the picture of a familiar girl.

It couldn't be. It couldn't be her. It didn't make sense. She was gone.

"Mr. Reese?" Finch saw the way Reese's face had changed the moment he saw the picture of the girl. "What is it?" He had never seen Mr. Reese look so shocked and that sent a chill down his spine.

"This is impossible," he said with a shaky voice as he pointed to the picture.

"We know that the machine is never wrong," Finch said. "I know she's been 'dead' for 2 years-"

"1 year and 10 months," Reese corrected.

A frown creased Finch's features as he glanced down at the girl's date of death to see he was correct. But how could he have known that without seeing the certificate? "How did you know that Mr. Reese?"

Reese took slow steps until he was in front of the board, staring into the eyes of the girl. The haunted look was still on his face as he answered.

"She's my daughter."

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**It's a short prologue but if I get a good response from this and people want to read the whole story, the chapters will be much longer. **

**I WILL NOT BE CONTINUING WITH THIS STORY UNLESS I GET A GOOD RESPONSE SO PLEASE REVIEW IF YOU WANT TO READ MORE!**


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